Campaign halts over Khan injury

LAHORE, PAKISTAN – Pakistan’s main parties have suspended campaigning for weekend polls in honor of Imran Khan, who was in the hospital with head and back injuries after falling at an election rally.

TV footage showed the retired cricket star and head of the Pakistan Movement for Justice party flat on his back in a hospital bed after his fall in the city of Lahore. Doctors have advised one week’s rest, throwing the rest of Khan’s campaign for Saturday’s election into jeopardy.

Khan’s main rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is tipped to win, on Wednesday called off campaigning and conveyed his sympathies. “We have not given any advertisements against PTI, we are running a positive campaign,” a spokesman for his Pakistan Muslim League-N party said.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls Karachi, also announced on Twitter that its leader, Altaf Hussain, who is in self-exile in London, would not address supporters by phone due to Khan’s condition.